-- THE ARCHIVE --

AUSTRALIA
Judicial CP - January 1884

The Australasian Medical Gazette, Sydney, January 1884, p.91

Flogging in Sydney.

Click to enlarge

Two medical gentlemen, from professional reasons, who were
present at the administering on Saturday last of the flogging to
the four men who so richly deserved it, have given us their
impressions. They express the opinion that, the necessity of
corporal punishment being admitted, the object of the authorities
should be to inflict as great an amount of physical pain, with as
little proportionate injury as is possible. They believe this
might be best done by causing the lashes to be given with due
deliberation, instead of being hurriedly administered as on this
occasion, the whole punishment of twenty-five lashes being got
through in considerably less time than three minutes.

Were a regulation made that there should be an interval of
thirty seconds between each stroke the punishment would be
unutterably more severe, without causing any more injury to the
man flogged, and with less shock to his nervous system. It would
also bear a more just relative proportion to the time during
which the prisoners' victim had suffered under the assaults which
resulted in their conviction.

On this occasion the whole of the lashes were given by one
officer, and towards the end, in consequence of his tired arm,
many of the strokes were very feeble. It was most evident that
for the proper administration of the punishment two flagellators
are necessary, who should give a dozen strokes each, alternately.
To those who have witnessed flogging, as formerly practiced in
the army and navy, the punishment appeared absurdly lenient,
blood having been brought in one case only, and in this but very
slightly, whilst in military and naval punishments it generally
ran pretty freely. No one can possibly believe that these
larrikins deserve greater consideration or less severity than a
soldier or sailor punished for drunkenness or insubordination.

They also think that the lashes are administered too much on
one spot, and that they should be distributed more generally over
the dorsal region, so as to produce more superficial and less
deep injury. They suggest that half the punishment to adults
should be administered on the buttocks, so that for the next
fortnight or so the men flogged, would be in such a state as to
prefer standing to sitting, thus advertising their punishment,
and be exposed to the ridicule of unsympathising companions. The
short term of imprisonment, and their consequent liberation
before the effects of the lash have disappeared, is a good
thought on the part of the Stipendiary Magistrates who ordered
the infliction.

Australian Town and Country Journal, Sydney, 19 January 1884, p.17

Well Deserved Flogging.

Click to enlarge

The carrying out of the sentences of flogging which were
passed last week in the Sydney police courts aroused a tremendous
sensation amongst the stamp of humans from which the culprits
come. It is doubtless in the hope that such a dreadful punishment
as the cat will have a beneficial effect upon those of that class
which have not yet come under its immediate application, as well
as upon the sufferers themselves, that the law administers the
lash. Every scream, every groan, calls forth a responsive twinge
from the auditors, some of whom will perhaps take it as a caution
for their future conduct.

The law provided that criminals sentenced to be flogged shall
receive the punishment privately. The Woolloomooloo watch-house
was the spot, and Saturday the day fixed upon, and at half past
11 in the forenoon a large crowd chiefly composed of the larrikin
type began to gather in front of the building. A number of
constables also sought admission, which was not permitted. By the
appointed time the triangle had been fitted up in one of the
small yards, and straps properly placed to buckle up the
culprits. This implement, which is made of bar iron, and can be
adjusted to various sizes, has a cross-bar about half way up to
keep the culprit's back well out, and over this was thrown a
large blanket. The man who wielded the cat was a stout brawny
warder from the gaol.

At 12 o'clock all was ready, and Dr. Egan having arrived,
operations were at once commenced. Only a few gentlemen who had
obtained orders were present, in addition to the officers of the
police. The first candidate for flogging was Magner aged 23, who
was stripped to the waist, and secured to the triangle. He
received his 25 lashes in about 4½ minutes, each stroke
averaging a little over 10 seconds. Mulholland followed and got
the same number.

The prisoners bore their punishment with great fortitude, but
appeared very weak when it was over, as if they were thoroughly
exhausted.

The effect of the lash is fearful. The first blow in each case
left a number of parallel pink stripes running from the top of
the right shoulder in a diagonal line towards the centre of the
back. The second blow deepened the pink to a deep dark red, and
blood began to ooze slowly from the skin; the nerves over the
whole of the back were quivering and twitching, and as every
succeeding blow fell, it was succeeded by a convulsive shudder of
the whole body. When the number of strokes had been completed,
the backs of the prisoners bore the appearance of bruised raw
meat. There can be no doubt that the punishment is a fearful
ordeal, and no man, however callous, is likely to commit himself
for it a second time.

The next candidate operated on was O'Brien. He was sentenced
to 20 lashes, and on the receipt of each stroke of the cat he
uttered fearful screams of pain. As the number were laid on, his
shrieks grew more terrible till the 13th stroke; they resembled
those emanating from a wild beast rather than a human being. Once
or twice he showed a disposition to faint, but every stroke to
the last brought out a cry from him which could be heard for some
distance beyond the walls. At the end of the flogging he was
barely able to stand and was given a drop of brandy which revived
him a little. These three men were flogged for their brutal
assault on the Chinaman Wong Ken, in Campbell-street, last week.

The man James Deane, of Gundagai, who was convicted of
indecently assaulting some ladies in George-street, last week,
was the last to be flogged. He had been waiting for his turn, and
as he came forward, pulling his shirt off, he looked as if he did
not much care for what he had to go through. The first stroke,
however, he looked as if he had changed his views, and at the
fourth stroke he shrieked in agony. Once he struggled madly for
freedom, but it was of no use. At the fourteenth stroke he
fainted and hung helplessly to the straps for a few moments. When
he came to he was told there was one more, an announcement which
he received with a groan. After getting the fifteenth he was
untied and walked back to the cell. The men's backs were
afterwards dressed with ointment.

When the gates of the station were locked at 12 o'clock the
crowd retired to the back of the building where every swish of
the cat could be plainly heard, and although at first the crowd
seemed to have the idea that "it didn't hurt much,"
still when the men began to cry out, the hushed stillness, and,
in some instances, the pale faces would seem to show that they
estimated the cat at its true value. There was no sympathy shown
for the sufferers, the general verdict being that it served them
right.

The three first-named men were to be released on Thursday
about 1 o'clock. Deane, who is committed for trial, will spend
the intervening time in gaol. It is to be sincerely hoped that
the punishments inflicted will deter the culprits from committing
such crimes again, and that it will have a like effect upon the
whole class of larrikins who disgrace the name of mankind.